Jesus Race and Gender - it's a chuckle.

This via Ruth Gledhill

A priest in the US sent me this yesterday, which throws a little light on the issue.

There were three good arguments that Jesus was Black:

1. He called everyone brother

2. He liked Gospel

3. He didn't get a fair trial

But then there were three equally good arguments that Jesus was Jewish:

1. He went into His Father's business

2. He lived at home until he was 33

3. He was sure his Mother was a virgin and his Mother was sure He was God

But then there were three equally good arguments that Jesus was Italian:

1.. He talked with His hands

2. He had wine with His meals

3... He used olive oil

But then there were three equally good arguments that Jesus was a Californian:

1. He never cut His hair

2. He walked around barefoot all the time

3. He started a new religion

But then there were three equally good arguments that Jesus was an American Indian:

1. He was at peace with nature

2. He ate a lot of fish

3. He talked about the Great Spirit

But then there were three equally good arguments that Jesus was Irish:

1. He never got married.

2. He was always telling stories.

3. He loved green pastures.

But the most compelling evidence of all - three proofs that Jesus was a woman:

1. He fed a crowd at a moment's notice when there was virtually no food

2. He kept trying to get a message across to a bunch of men who just didn't get it

3. And even when He was dead, He had to get up because there was still work to do

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The Myth of the Institutionless Church

For a very healthy corrective to the slagging off of institutions see THIS from Jason at Deep Church.

Let's Hear It For Activism

My turn to do a month's worth of opinion pieces for the Baptist Times' "Outside Edge" column has come round again.
With the agreement of the editor I'm posting my BT article here. To check out the Baptist times as a whole click here.

One of the hazards of ministry is the risk of being misunderstood. Ask any preacher. There are of course things one can do to reduce the risk. But sometimes you just have to go for it. So here goes.

The main secret of church growth is to want to grow and then to do something about it. I prescribe a good, old fashioned dose of evangelical activism.

Of course it’s not quite that simple. If it were I’d be out of a job. I spend a lot of time and energy helping students to identify cultural trends and to consider how to respond. We look at a whole range of approaches to evangelism and church growth from missionary congregations to personal faith sharing; from fresh expressions to healthy church growth thinking. We ask all kinds of important theological questions about such things as the relationship between our mission and God’s mission or the place of evangelism in our pursuit of the kingdom.

It’s encouraging that reflection on evangelism and other forms of mission is becoming more nuanced, theologically more robust. But it remains true that the three most important steps for those who would like to see growth are to want to grow, to plan to grow and then to do something about it.

Not that these things alone are enough. Church growth theory has always stressed that there are factors way beyond how a local congregation goes about things which have a huge influence on how likely they are to see an increase in numbers. It could well be, for instance, that the arrest of numerical decline detected in both the 2005 English Churches Census and the recent figures published by TEAR Fund is largely down to the culture-wide resurgence of interest in spirituality and the re-entry of religion onto the public stage since 9/11 and 7/7. Not a lot your local church can do about such things.

Nonetheless, it doesn’t take a census or a survey to tell you that churches that try to grow tend grow faster than those who aren’t interested in growth or won’t work at it. We need to be intentional and active.

Activism however has recently fallen out of favour. You must know the old joke about the patron saint of evangelicals being St. Vitus. Much of the criticism is indeed neccessary. Mere busyness is soul destroying. Prayerless reliance on human effort is faithless. We ought not to live as if we believe in justification by results. On the other hand it would be a gross denial of our evangelical heritage and a huge loss to the Church universal if we were to swap activism for quietism.

I wouldn’t want to go as far as the remark attributed to 19C evangelist Dwight Moody who respond to a critic by telling her that he preferred his method of doing evangelism to her method of not doing it. I am not commending mere activism or heedless hard work. What’s called for is faithful, imaginative engagement.

Nor do I want to simplify to the point simplicity. “For every problem there is a solution that is simple, straightforward …. and wrong!” Amen. But neither do I want to see the church paralysed by complexity or bewildered into impotence.

We might only understand in part but that doesn’t mean we know nothing. We might not have it within our power to transform our own fortunes but that doesn’t mean we can do nothing. So let’s hear it for activism. Gospel faithful activism? Theologically savvy activism? Prayerfully reflective activism? Spirit inspired activism? Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! But for all that, still activism.

Baptist Christians in a Multi-Faith World

Here's details of a forthcoming day organised by the mission department at the BUGB

Cliff College Seek Postgraduate Mission Tutor

Said I'd pass this on.

Postgraduate Tutor
CLIFF COLLEGE

Cliff College offers undergraduate and postgraduate theology degrees, focused on evangelism in contemporary culture, emerging church, leadership and renewal, biblical theology, children’s and youth ministry. Our courses are validated by the University of Manchester and our student body is both diverse and international.

Postgraduate Tutor. To be part of a team teaching at postgraduate level in the general area of mission. To offer leadership to the taught MA in Mission programme. To supervise research students. Ability to teach in one or more of the following areas: leadership, renewal, emerging church, youth and children’s ministry.

You will have a PhD in theology or related area, or near to completion. You can be lay or ordained. For a ministerial appointment (in the Methodist Church or another denomination in communion with the Methodist Church), the Methodist stipend and allowances will apply. A lay appointment will be in the region of £33,000.

The Next Steps. To find out more about the College go to www.cliffcollege.ac.uk. For information on the post and an application form contact Helen Phipps on 01246 584216 or postgrad@cliffcollege.ac.uk.

Applications must be received by 19 March and interviews take place at the College on 27 March.

Cliff College, Calver, Hope Valley, Derbyshire S32 3XG

Billy Cobham at Ronnie Scott's

Just got back from a weekend in London which included a great night out at Ronnie Scott’s.
The headline act, The Billy Cobham Band, were fantastic. Hadn’t come across Billy Cobham before even though he’s been around since the 60’s, but then, Weather Report aside, I’m not a huge fan of the fusion/funk end of the Jazz spectrum. I confess to being a bit disappointed when I noticed that the line up didn’t include a sax and more than a little worried when I noticed it did include a steel pan. So much for my prejudices. Junior Gill was superb and fitted in seamlessly.

The band as whole were tighter than whatever it is ducks themselves use as a simile for being tight. And talk about presence! Like a nuclear submarine deep below the polar ice-cap: thrumming with energy and effortlessly cool at the same time. This was live music as it’s surely supposed to be, an event, of the moment, a happening.

I’m not sure I’ll be buying any Billy Cobham albums. There’s other stuff I’d rather give my time and money to. But as a live set this will take some beating. It’s good to go out for a night and to walk back excited by what you’ve just heard.

Full line up: Billy Cobham – drums; Jean-Marie Ecay – guitar; Fifi Chayeb – bass; Junior Gill - steel pan; Christophe Cravero – keyboards and violin(!); Marco Lobo – percussions.

Here's a clip of Billy doing his stuff back in 1987.

Conversion and Pluraism

east vs west muslim christian
Originally uploaded by Frank Benson

My turn to do a month's worth of opinion pieces for the Baptist Times' "Outside Edge" column has come round again.

With the agreement of the editor I'm posting my BT article here. To check out the Baptist times as a whole click here.

It’s not often the BBC quotes scripture. Last week however, Mtt 28 featured prominently in its report of the Church of England’s general synod. The established church has been debating a proposal that it should make explicit its intention to seek the conversion of people to Christ.

I am not in a position to comment on the reporter’s opinion that the proposal was a covert attempt to arrest a “liberal drift”. The reaction in the media though does raise some interesting questions about evangelism in a society of many faiths.

Commentators have weighed in on both sides. “To fail to seek conversions is a denial of the gospel.” “Aggressive proselytising is disrespectful and runs the risk of destabilising inter-faith relations.”
I reckon both sides of the argument are right. And wrong.

The out and out evangelisers, the proclaimers, the converters need to think carefully about their understanding of evangelism. Yes, we should resist the notion that evangelism need be crass and insensitive. But we should also acknowledge that it can be, and often has been.

I recall with embarrassment the street preachers in Wakefield who so vigorously harangued passers by, launching bible verses like projectiles, that they were arrested for conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace. Jesus wept.

Seeking the conversion of others ought not to be controversial but it is truly a sensitive issue. It becomes particularly sensitive when we, the Christian majority, seek the conversion of a distinct, minority group who feel beleaguered, misrepresented and under suspicion. It is one thing to witness to Christ in our weakness, another thing entirely to do so from a position of power.

Yes, sharing Christ is in itself an act of love and compassion. How important then that we do all we can to make sure that the way in which we speak of him does not deny the very message we seek to convey.

On the other hand those who imagine that respecting others requires us to abandon all attempts to persuade them of the truth of our convictions are surely misguided. A commitment to social pluralism – the view that other faiths, cultures and world views have every right to share fully in society, indeed that they are welcome to do so - is not incompatible with seeking conversions.

Yes, dialogue is a vital dimension of Christ-like evangelism. Yes, true dialogue must include a readiness to listen and learn, recognition that we do not have a monopoly on truth. But no, persuasion is not a dirty word. It’s what happens in mature relationships, in adult conversations. The best forms of dialogue include, but go beyond, the mere gathering of information or the acquisition of insight. If truth counts for anything then all parties have to speak from a position of conviction and commitment and with an openness to conversion. There are many out there, the BBC included who would seek to impale us on the horns of false dilemmas. We must resist the pressure to choose between closed-minded, fundamentalist certainty and timid, liberal relativism.

To participate in God’s mission in today’s multi-faith Britain is to pray and to sweat till we see justice, peace and a welcome for all. It also to speak whenever we can, to do whatever we can and at all times to live in such a way as to persuade as many as we can to follow the one who is the source of existence, the key to life and the destiny of all creation. These callings are not and must never be allowed to become incompatible, indeed they are one.